


it's the price we pay (when it comes to love)

by cold_nights_summer_days



Series: Anchor [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Comfortember, Confessions, Day Nine, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, I don't really know how to tag anymore, Identity Reveal, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but we'll count it, sort of he's not technically adopted ye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27477808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_nights_summer_days/pseuds/cold_nights_summer_days
Summary: Day nine: confession - Peter tells Tony that he's Spider-Man (or gets found out, more like!)---title from walking the wire by imagine dragons (you can pry these lyric titles from my cold dead hands . . . it might be 2020, but I'm writing like it's 2015)
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Anchor [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996039
Comments: 3
Kudos: 184
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics





	it's the price we pay (when it comes to love)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what this is, but it's finished, so that's something! I hope you're having a wonderful day so far, or if you aren't, I hope things pick up for you <3 
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> this takes place sometime after peter goes back to school. i honestly don't know anymore :/

When Peter got home from school that day, he knew he was completely and utterly fucked. Tony was sitting at the dining room table, phone in hand, and the Spider-Man suit sat folded on the table in front of him. Peter briefly tried to turn right around and back out the front door, but without even looking up, Tony said:

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Sorry?” Peter said, voice tilting up at the end. Tony didn’t acknowledge his apology, instead patting the chair next to him. Peter took the seat, his entire body practically vibrating with nerves.

_He found out he found out he found out—_

“So, I’m going to give you a chance to explain—or try to lie, whichever you choose—once I’m done telling you what I found out today. Sound fair?”

Peter nodded meekly.

“I’m sure you know that Fury tasked me with tracking down New York’s newest vigilante, right? Spider-Man?”

Peter nodded again, playing with the hem of his shirt to try and distract from the feeling of impending doom in his gut .

“Well, today I found him. I’m a little bit disappointed, honestly, that it took me this long to figure out that Spider-Man was none other than my own kid. I am kind of proud that you kept it a secret this long, especially with FRIDAY hovering so much, so you get a few points for that.”

Tony watched Peter for a moment, and Peter took this as his cue to try and explain.

“Well, you see,” Peter started with no idea of where he was going. “I . . . I am Spider-Man.”

“I got that part. Anything else you’d like to share with the class today?”

Peter shook his head. There wasn’t much else to say, honestly. Tony sighed before asking his next question.

“Why do you do it?” He asked, searching Peter’s face for any indication of the answer.

“Because I can,” Peter explained quietly. “I have these powers – I can actually help people, and it feels stupid to let that go to waste. Why should other people have to get hurt if I can stop it?” 

And _wow_ ¸ this kid really was like him in so many ways even though they weren’t truly related. _Poor kid_ , Tony thought, _what a curse that will turn out to be._

“It’s not your job to save the world, kiddo,” Tony said softly.

“I know, but it’s not your job either and you still do it.”

“That’s different. I’m an Avenger, you’re not.”

“But I can still make a difference! What about everyone that the Avenger’s don’t help every day?”

“Maybe you can, but I can’t let you keep going out halfway into the night wearing pajamas. It isn’t safe.”

“I’ve been perfectly safe this whole time!”

“Peter,” Tony said, “You’ve been coming home every other night with fresh bruises and cuts. I know you think I haven’t noticed because they heal by morning, but I can’t pretend that I don’t see you getting hurt doing this. I need to keep you safe, kid, and I can’t do that if you constantly go after guys with knives and guns. What happens if you get shot out there and I can’t come get you? Does some random person pick you up and take you to a hospital where they find out you aren’t normal? Do you bleed out before I can find you? I know you want to save people, Peter, but I can’t take the risk that I might not be able to save you.”

That was the heart of this issue. It wasn’t that Peter hadn’t told him, it wasn’t that Peter was out there doing it at all. Tony could handle those things, or he could at least try to handle those things. It was the possibility of Peter going out one night and never coming home that he couldn’t handle. That he couldn’t even handle thinking about.

“I can’t stop doing this,” Peter whispered. Tony sighed deeply because he knew that would probably be the case.

“I can’t let you go out there with no training and no safety net. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. Maybe once you’ve taken a few self defense classes we can revisit this, but until then, you’re not going out as Spider-Man anymore.”

“ _Please—”_

“No.” It pained Tony to say it, especially with the puppy eyes Peter was trying to use on him. “We can talk about it in the future, but I’m not ready right now.”

“Okay.” Peter couldn’t have sounded or looked any more disappointed if he’d tried, but this was a battle he had no chance of winning today.

“I’m sorry, but I love you, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I know. I love you too,” Peter said back. Tony pulled him in for a quick hug before standing up.

“Wait, am I not grounded?” Peter asked. Most kids wouldn’t bring it up if their parents had it, but Peter was genuinely surprised.

“Should you be?” Tony said, answering his question with a question. He paused for a moment as if thinking it over. “Probably, but if I ground you that means that you wouldn’t be able to see that new movie this weekend, and I’m not going to go see it by myself.”

“So I’m not grounded because we had movie plans this weekend?”

“Yep. Unless you really want to be grounded, but I have to admit, that would be pretty inconvenient for me.” 

They both laughed, and while everything seemed fine on the outside, Tony couldn’t have been more worried. Deep down he knew Peter wasn’t going to stop, at least not forever, no matter how much Tony wanted him to. The best he could do was to prepare him as much as possible before sending him back out in the world. With that thought in mind, Tony waited for Peter to go to bed that night, and headed down to the lab.

“Hey FRIDAY?”

“Yes, sir?” She responded.

“Pull up the notes on nanotech. We’ve got some work to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! if you have any special requests for future one-shots, I'd love to include them!
> 
> If you want to read more, check out/subscribe to the series!
> 
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>    
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> 
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